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Your British friend: “Mate! You gotta go watch this film! It was wicked! And I only paid a quid for the ticket – I was gobsmacked – it’s usually a tenner at the cinema these days.Expand text… I was well chuffed, being skint and all that.”

You: Umm... one moment please…

[getting your phone out of your pocket]

Google translate: Error.

Sadly, Google translate (and even your beloved Yandex translate) won’t help you with that one.

When it comes to deciphering British slang, you need to do some research, and commit what you find to memory. So, to help you on your way, here’s a few more examples of some British slang, that are guaranteed to knock your socks off (» you will enjoy them!)

1. DodgyMeaning: something suspicious, questionable, not quite right, unreliable.Example: ‘That man lives in the huge house at the end of the street; he has a private swimming pool, a hot tub, a Ferrari, and he says he teaches English for a living - that sounds a bit dodgy to me.’

2. UniMeaning: abbreviation of universityExample: ‘When I was at uni, I overslept half my classes. Those were the days.’

3. Chock-a-blockMeaning: so crowded that it’s hard to moveExample: ‘Campus was chock-a-block the other day - there were students everywhere - in the classrooms, in the corridors, queueing up in the streets. Our students are so eager to learn English! That, or they had heard that there was some cake being handed out…’

4. Bog rollMeaning: toilet paperExample: ‘Do we really need an example of how to use ‘bog roll’ in a sentence…?’

5. CodswallopMeaning: nonsenseExample: ‘One of the teachers at Campus is related to David Cameron? No way, that’s a load of codswallop!’

And just in case you were wondering, ‘Campus translate’ has provided us with an accurate translation of what your British friend had to say… Just check out the comments below!

‘The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise man knows himself to be a fool.’ – As You Like It, Act V, Scene I

Shakespeare is difficult. Shakespeare is often impossible to understand. Shakespeare makes English language students say ‘Whaaaat?!’ Expand text…

But Shakespeare is unavoidable, and great. Studying Shakespeare at school is unavoidable, since he is considered to be the greatest English poet and playwright of all time. And Shakespeare is also unavoidable when you study the English language. In fact, he is unavoidable in day-to-day conversation too.

Why? Because William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616) is generally credited with introducing over 1700 words to the English language. ‘Fashionable’, ‘Excitement’, ‘Generous’, ‘Manager’, ‘Amazement’, ‘Bedroom’ and ‘Birthplace’ are just some of the words we can thank Shakespeare for.

Shakespeare often invented words by joining two words together, changing verbs into adjectives, nouns into verbs, and adding prefixes or suffixes to words. By doing so, he created words like these:

Arch-villain Shakespeare: ‘…each man apart, all single and alone, yet an arch-villain keeps him company.’ - Timon of Athens, Act V, Scene IDefinition: A particularly evil character in a story or film. E.g. Moriarty is the arch-villain in the Sherlock stories.

Shooting star Shakespeare: ‘I see thy glory like a shooting star.’ – Richard II, Act II, Scene IVDefinition: A piece of rock from space that produces a bright light as it travels through the earth's atmosphere.E.g. When we went camping in Karelia, we saw some shooting stars.

For those of you that don’t know, Portmanteau (pronounced ‘port-man-toe’) is the name given to words in the English language that have been created by combining the meaning and sounds of two other words.Expand text… For example, ‘brunch’ – from a combination of the words, ‘breakfast’ and ‘lunch’.

They are completely made-up words, but are very popular and widespread in English nowadays. Check these out:

Oxbridge – Oxford + Cambridge» The joint top two universities in England. Students will often do whatever it takes to get a place at Oxbridge – it doesn’t matter whether it’s Cambridge or Oxford, it’s more about the reputation.

Manwich – man + sandwich» When a man makes a sandwich out of anything he can find in his fridge, we call it a ‘Manwich’. But ladies have been known to make them too!

Glamping – glamourous + camping» Glamping is a luxurious alternative to camping, for those who want to guarantee they don’t get a wet sleeping bag.

Workaholic – work + alcoholic» If you’re addicted to working (in other words, you live to work, not work to live), then you’re a workaholic, just face it. Shopaholics and chocoholics exist too.

Brexit – Britain + exit» Will it happen? Won’t it happen? It has now been well over 3 years since Britain voted to leave the European Union, but Brexit still hasn’t happened. And now it’s over to Boris Johnson to finish the job…

Portmanteau is not to be confused with a compound word, such as ‘starfish’ (= star + fish), which is made up of two whole words stuck together.

Here are some more examples of portmanteau: ‘Podcast’, ‘Internet’, ‘Bollywood’, ‘Chillax’, ‘Electrocution’, ‘Smog’, ‘Email’, ‘Frenemy’ and even ‘Motorcycle’. Can you guess which words they come from? And can you think of any other words? Let’s learn together! Comment below.